Scary moment with plankton!

BJ · Post by BJ » Thu Feb 14, 2008 3:19 pm

Hi All,

After sitting commenting on everyone elses photos, the time has come to post my first photos. Given the standard of photos on the site, this is a very scary moment !!

These three are all from a marine plankton sample. The sample was full of detritus and I forgot about it until a week later..when my wife asked how much longer "that muck " was going to stay in the refrigerator. All the detritus had settled out and there was some interesting live plankton:

Barnacle larva (350um across the "horns") live

medusa (darkfield 600um diameter) Live: - DOF is a problem as my lowest power obj is x10

Thalassiosira (subtilis group): A colonial diatom in mucilage (darkfield cells ~15um diameter) Live

Olymus BX40 + Canon A640 + unskilled photographer

Ciao
BrianO

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 4:21 pm

BrianO, congratulations on your first photo posting! It looks to me like your photos hold up just fine to the forum's tradition of excellence.

The darkfield colonial diatom is a viewpoint I don't recall having seen before -- very interesting!

The barnacle larva is very sharp. Did you use flash or did the beast actually sit still long enough for an ordinary photo?

One thing I do notice about these images, especially the barnacle larva, is that the color balance is very blue. Was that intentional? If not, then what kind of illumination did you use, and how did you have the camera set?

Looking great -- hope to see more!

--Rik

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 4:46 pm

i think your photos look good espeically the first, though i think it would look much better with color correction.

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 5:19 pm

BrianO....
You picked a tough one to photograph for your first image post... a barnacle larva is about as 3-dimensional a subject as you'll ever encounter. But it looks excellent! The positioning and focus point make the most of the DOF that is available.

As some have mentioned, the color balance is a little too far off. I don't think the background needs to be absolutely "neutral", but this is a little too blue.

Most of the salt water samples I've collected make themselves known to my olfactory senses if I forget about them for a few days.

... and what would we ever do without a spouse that understands the need for some very strange things to be stored in the refrigerator next to last nights left-overs?

Charlie

Frez · Post by **Frez** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:25 pm

Those are excellent! My first images looked like old chicken soup. Congrats!

gpmatthews · Post by **gpmatthews** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:17 pm

BrillO, BrianO! Excellent images. I really like the diatom photo.

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 4:49 am

These are really good there Brian, much better than my first post images in this forum.

As for that color, appears to me the use of a blue filter was employed. Not to worry I used one all the time. Try adding or increasing just a bit of the red channel to stifle the blue somewhat, using your software.

ralfwagner · Post by **ralfwagner** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 8:45 am

Brian,

really some excellent pics there. My favorites are the diatoms in jelly. I've never seen this before. Surprisingly for me, that you didn't come up with some lichen pics. Judging from your friendly comments to my lichen-postings I was convinced, that lichens were your favorite subjects

. However, hope to see more!

discomorphella · Post by **discomorphella** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:47 pm

Hi Brian---

Those first shots are as good as many scientific publications. Excellent work.

--David

BJ · Post by BJ » Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:05 am

Hi,

Thank you all for your very kind comments!

These were my first microphotos with a digital camera.... as you all spotted I'm having problems with my white balance!! So far I can get every colour, blue, beige, pink, green.... except white. The blue background is with a halogen bulb, blue filter (kb4) and white balance at tungsten. Minus the blue filter gives a rather beige yellowish colour. Tried a custom white balance - this gave me the green. I suspect that I need to up the bulb temperature. So over the next while I need to experiment more - my big problem is not the kit - its me ... just not enough patience.

I "froze" the barnacle larva with a fast shutter 1/2500 - I have not got a flash setup..when I get some cash I will try Grahams optical fibre setup.
All the plankton was very alive and fast moving - I was amazed after a week in the refrigerator.

If you can bear with me as I go through my "Blue Phase", in the next couple of days, i'll post another couple of photos from the same sample which might be of interest.

thanks for all the comments and advice
Ciao
BrianO

bernhardinho · Post by **bernhardinho** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 12:32 pm

hi Brian

a couple of notes: first of all, why are you using a blue filter? Are you really setting the illu rather high to get better color temperature? Can you set the white balance manually on your camera? I've seen many shots in our german forum using a A 640 showing no color problems!!

On second thoughts, such a blue tint is no problem to correct with even simple software like i.e. irfanview. Try diminuishing the color saturation a bit and raising the gamma value slightly. With your permission, I can repost the result to show what I mean.

As long as you're waiting for cash why not try my modest flash set up (under Mikrofotografie)

http://bernhard-lebeda.de/mikroskopie/a ... stung.html

All it takes is a simple flash unit and two slides

As your camera won't have an external flash socket, you could use a slave flash which is then fired and synchronized with the internal camera flash.

Best wishes for now!!

Bernhard

Admin edit: to remove reposted image.

Jean-marc · Post by **Jean-marc** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 12:22 pm

Your first pics !

It is beautiful, I want to see your next shots !
JM

BJ · Post by BJ » Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:12 am

Hi people,

Thanks for the continuing interest. Ken and Bernardinho have both suggested playing with the RGB balance in the photos. Doing this I can definitely produce an image with a background colour closer to how my eye sees it, but I am reluctant to rely on this routinely. I think that this type of manipulation is too subjective and I could end up "inventing" an image.

I am going to post a set of images "tintinnid" where I have altered the RGB balance and would welcome your comments. I hope over the next few days to take some more photos and work on the white balance.

BTW, thanks Bernardinho for the link to your flash setup...I really like it....couldnt be much simpler!..but I only have a built in flash so it is not for me..obrigado!

Ciao
BrianO

gpmatthews · Post by **gpmatthews** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:23 am

Brian, built-in flash is no problem - I used it for a long time. See the thread at http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... ight=flash for some ideas.

BJ · Post by BJ » Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:30 am

Hi Graham,

Yes I've looked at your setup and I intend to try it asap. You certainly get some great rotifer shots with it.

thanks
BrianO